New guidelines go into effect today aimed at making mortgage lending easier. The new standards stem from an agreement in October put in place to clarify when banks would be penalized for making mistakes on mortgages they sell to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Yahoo Finance Senior Columnist Michael Santoli says because the banks themselves are risk averse after the mortgage meltdown, they are very conscious of exactly what they are allowed to do and how they are supposed to treat loans. "They apparently had very unclear guidance from Freddie and Fannie about the rules of the road," he says, "in terms of which types of mortgages were going to be acceptable for Fannie and Freddie to buy."  Lenders have said this lack of clarity is why credit is tight and many consumers aren't qualifying for loans.

The Urban Institute says 1.2 million additional home loans could be made per year as a result, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Borrowers may see changes in the lending process within weeks. That may include a quicker turnaround time for mortgage applications. The Wall Street Journal says now it can take two months or longer from the time a consumer files an application for a loan to when the loan is actually made.

[Get the Latest Market Data and News with the Yahoo Finance App]

Santoli says, “It makes a whole lot of sense to just unclog this one piece of the mortgage market."  But, he points out, “that’s only one reason that banks maybe aren’t lending as heavily.”

Demand for loans and the credit worthiness of borrowers have also forced banks to pull back on lending. Tight credit has been blamed for slowing the housing recovery.  But banks are expected now to relax some of their credit requirements and give prospective borrowers more consideration, particularly those whose credit score took a hit because of one-off events, like loss of a job or a single large medical bill.

“If you’re Freddie and Fannie,” says Santoli, “if you really want to get this part of the economy moving, there isn’t much else to do except to set these rules in a way that tries to encourage lending.”

After bouncing back from the bottom, home prices have seemingly plateaued, almost unchanged in the month of September according to the S&P/Case-Shiller’s 20-city composite index out last Tuesday. If you can get a loan, it's a good time to buy. Mortgage rates remain extremely low. For the week ending November 26, the 30 year fixed-rate average was 3.97%, and the 15 year fixed-rate average was 3.17%, according to Freddie Mac.

Saving up for a down payment may no longer be a huge hurdle of homebuyers either. Last month, Mel Watt, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, told the Senate Banking Committee that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will soon give guidance to banks requiring only a 3% to 5% down payment from borrowers. It echoed an announcement Watt had previously made in October, which was criticized as a departure from the push after the financial crisis to tighten lending standards.

But the question is, do consumers and investors want to buy homes right now? "Home ownership lust is gone for now," says Santoli. "It’s a generational thing. That doesn’t mean there aren’t good deals, but it doesn’t mean we are going to see this upsurge of interest I think in home speculation."

More from Yahoo Finance

December markets: 3 things to watch

This reality TV star wants to teach you how to flip homes—for a $34,000 fee

Holiday retail winners and losers